Black Bean & Corn Salad

Who doesn't have a recipe for a black bean and corn salad? There are lots of versions out there, but this is the one I make and like. It's basically a Rachel Ray recipe that I found when googling. I have made some minor changes (I like to think of them as improvements -- adjusting the dressing and adding the snap peas), but it's still quick and easy.

Before I post the recipe, let me address a pet peeve: red onions that are only coarsely chopped or are sliced thick. The onion is supposed to give a wee kick, a little zing, and not stand out on its own. So I always chop it fine when it goes raw into a salad.

Black Bean & Corn Salad

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

2 cups frozen corn kernels (no need to thaw)

1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped (can omit, Jocelyn, but finely chopped carrot or tomatoes for color would be nice)

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

sugar snap peas, thinly sliced crosswise on the diagonal (no measure, as you wish)

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 to 2 tsp hot sauce (like Tabasco or Louisiana Hot Sauce)

1 Tbs lime juice

2 Tbs olive oil

Combine beans and vegetables. Mix cumin, hot sauce, lime juice and oil and pour over veggies. Yum!

Ways to use this: In addition to eating this as a salad, it's almost a salsa -- scoop it up with something or top something with it. It's also good added to green salads. I once added it to leftover green spaghetti (you remember, the spinach sauced spaghetti which I had made using corkscrew pasta) and ate it cold as a pasta salad. It was reeeeally good!